Oh here we are and here we are and here we go-go
25/08/88 (Nicky Campbell & Gary Davies)
Big Country – “King Of Emotion” (16)
Getting us underway with their new sound but this was to be the band's final top 20 hit and it was now at its peak.
Jane Wiedlin – “Rush Hour” (21)
The former Go-Go is in the studio to perform what was her only top 40 hit and this bouncy song peaked at number 12.
Brother Beyond – “The Harder I Try” (3)
Back in the studio with their first of two top ten hits and it went up one more place.
Bomb The Bass – “Don’t Make Me Wait” (20) (breaker)
Became their second of four top ten hits when it peaked at number 6.
Womack & Womack – “Teardrops” (18) (breaker)
Became by far the duo's biggest hit when it peaked at number 3.
Status Quo – “Running All Over The World” (17) (video)
It was this year's Sport Aid single but it got no higher than number 17.
Breathe – “Hands To Heaven” (4)
Also back in the studio tonight but their only top ten hit was now at its peak.
Yazz & The Plastic Population – “The Only Way Is Up” (1) (rpt)
Fourth of five weeks at number one.
Tanita Tikaram – “Good Tradition” (10) (video/credits)
At its peak.
September 1st is next.
Welcome to Peak Position of the Pops, where most of the songs go no higher and, for the second week in a row, a co-host spills the beans about the number one in the intro. Idiot!
ReplyDeleteA new image for Big Country, which means longer hair for most, a disintegrating bass guitar strap, and a diluted, slower and less commericial AOR sound. What I’d give for “500 Miles” right now.
A stunt Captain Sensible behind Nicky for the intro to Jane Wiedlin, wearer of the first of two sort of crop tops of the evening, Yazz inside the other. Confident with that guitar solo, wasn’t she? Great song, and I also rated her minor follow-up chart entry “Inside A Dream”.
Brother Nathan working the stage again, which equals me feeling agitated and seasick.
I watched this ‘live’ on the telly for once (hence being so early with my comments for a change) so the sound might have been different had I watched this on iPlayer, but Bomb The Bass’s track sounded familiar to their last yet tinnier and squeakier.
A great song next, Gaz? I just found “Teardrops” boring and repetitive, and just what did Cecil do to get a credit apart from sit there? Surely this was a hit for Womack, singular.
I sprinted past Status Quo with the FF button. Such a shame number 31 in the mugshots, “The Race” by Yello, wasn’t used for Sport Aid instead.
Breathe appear to have lost the keyboard player from last time. As far as UK top 40 action goes, this is the lads’ second and final outing, they’ve breathed their last.
For some reason I thought Yazz was American. I didn’t realise she was born a mile or so from the BBC studios. Her big hit was on a label co-founded by her husband, whose nickname was Jazz!
Lucky old Missus Campbell to be!
Good grief, Tanita smiles early doors in the video! Nice to get the whole song, though the over-fussy backdrop chages reduced my enjoyment of the video.
arthur i think you've added a hundred extra miles to the early big country hit? either that or you're getting it confused with the proclaimers (if so, then probably not the first!)?
DeleteThat's inflation for you! :-D
DeleteBreath did seem to have that American style to their ballad here, a la Chicago, Foreigner, Toto, which was unusual for a British band, but it did feel like a Foreigner-sounding tune, and so getting to no.4 in the chart was no mean feat, despite a lot of the thumbs down for it, I remember really liking this one at the time.
DeleteIt's interesting that the old TOTP effect (appear on the show and climb the chart) is now much more hit and miss than it used to be. The power of the show clearly waning at this point as an appearance used to be almost a guarantee of a bigger hit.
DeleteGazza and Campbell are together again, accompanied by a number of weirdoes who appear to have been put there for Nicky to bounce off during his links. I assume that really was his fiancée he kissed at the end, as she may have called the marriage off otherwise! While Gazza does his normal straight man routine, his co-host does manage to just about stay the right side of annoying overall, and even slips in a topical reference to Princess Beatrice, then just 17 days old.
ReplyDeleteBig Country first up, and I see Stuart has refrained from following his bandmates and growing his hair out. I assume they were aiming for a more mature sound with this release, but with all the frenetic bagpipe guitar and Scottish folk stylings taken away they could be any band, and lost everything that made them distinctive - no wonder the drummer looked bored throughout. Something far livelier next from a very pretty-looking Jane Wiedlin, who suited her hat, leather jacket and denim shorts look. This was played endlessly on the radio back then, which makes it surprising it didn't reach the Top 10, but it is a great feelgood song and her former bandmate must have worried for just a moment that she wouldn't be the only ex-Go Go to go-go on to bigger things solo.
After Brother Beyond with an identikit second performance, and two breakers we will see again very soon, comes Quo with a re-recording that sounds almost identical to the original, title change aside. I had forgotten that they had done a "Tears For Fears" with this, and I don't remember there being a second edition of Sport Aid either - it was annoying the way text kept popping up on the video to inform us of that fact. All in all, this felt like a very pointless exercise, and I agree with Arthur that Geldof and co should have used The Race instead. Breathe have fewer waistcoats on display for their second outing, and we get Tanita's video as this week's finale, a rather jolly affair that fits the song but is at odds with her dour persona. I think we can assume she passed the audition...
for what it's worth, i always thought the hottest member of the go-go's was drummer gina schock. i've just discovered that she recorded a project of her own around the same time her ex-colleagues were garnering themselves solo UK hits, but alas was unable to n match them in that regard
DeleteJohn, not only was the Jane wiedlin song played endlessly on the radio at the time, I remember Chris Tarrant on his Capital Radio breakfast show at time took it to another level, as his strap-line before and after the commercial breaks on his show had the words changed to ....."Ooh you send me, Tarrant In The Rush Hour......" as his breakfast show was coincidentally in morning rush hour commute.
DeleteYes, I can imagine breakfast and "drivetime" DJs would have all lapped this song up when it first came out!
DeleteGosh I'd forgotten all about the Chris Tarrant high jacking of 'Rush Hour'! Thanks for reminding me Dory!
DeleteIf I remember correctly, Chris Tarrant at this point in the 80s on Capital Radio was competing with the Radio 1 DJs for the London & South East radio listeners for the breakfast time commute radio listening, and certainly the Jane Wiedlin 'Rush Hour' piece modified for his show seemed to work a treat, and I must admit I was listening to Tarrant's show at the time, rather than whoever had the Radio breakfast show slot at the time.
DeleteBig Country try out their new sound, which doesn't sound Scottish but does sound oddly Australian - maybe it was the proximity to the success of INXS that made me hear that. Verses rather muted, but the chorus isn't too bad, it's just that they don't mesh together too well.
ReplyDeleteBest song of the night from Jane Wiedlin as she delivers her solo album Fur, now a cult pop platter, and this lead single from it, Baby Got Back. Or at least that's what the cameramen seem to think it is, judging by how many shots we get of her shapely derriere. Anyway, an excellent record, it still sparkles now, though the subsequent revelation that Jane likes to indulge in sadomasochism makes you worry about her a bit. I know, we shouldn't kinkshame in this day and age...
Brother Beyond again getting screams from the audience, maybe they were scared. Still very whiny.
Status Quo, managing the neat trick of playing a concert without their guitars plugged in, with a carbon copy of their earlier hit, only with one word changed. Not much of an improvement and though it was for charity across the globe, we remember the date September 11th for different reasons now.
Goodbye, Breathe... GOODBYE!
Then last week's warmed over Yazz, and the Tanita video to end on. There was always something of the head girl putting on a show at end of term about her, and lo and behold, there is about her video too. But this is a cheery one to close the episode, even if the spirit of French and Saunders hangs heavily over her follow-up.
Nicky telling us all this was the woman he would spend the rest of his life with... until he met Radio 1 newsreader Tina Ritchie off the Chris Evans Breakfast Show, who he's still married to now. Ah, the perils of the repeats!
Regarding Status Quo, first it was Band Aid in 1984, then Live Aid in 1985, and now stepping up the pace with Sport Aid in 1988, the 80s decade was still in this fundraising involvement by the pop industry, and I'm sure that Status Quo appeared in at least two of these, if not all three!
DeleteYes, all three for Quo, though they weren't involved in the first Sport Aid as far as I know.
DeleteBring back "Superspike"!
DeleteGary and the soon-to-be-weds hosting the show…nice touch.
ReplyDeleteBig Country – King of Emotion – Missing that guitar bagpipes sound meaning this sounds quite ordinary. OK I guess.
Jane Wiedlin – Rush Hour – ‘Cute’ Jane in her long cropped denim performs a song I haven’t heard since 1988. Didn’t realise she played the guitar on it. The chart rundown picture is the same as the sleeve of the single. No more hits of note which is a surprise.
Brother Beyond – The harder I try – Really ordinary.
Breakers – Bomb the Bass – after the dire ‘Beat dis’ this sounds ok, although made no impression on me at the time. Womack & Womack – Classic track this…at the end of 1988 this was no1 in some rundown chart of videos I watched but I have no idea what the criteria was; certainly not sales.
Status Quo – Running all over the World – Listening to this and looking at the different band personnel from when the original came out in ’77 I pondered if this was a new recording with ‘rocking’ dubbed over with ‘running’. Sounds a lot like the original but when I checked the single out it says ‘re-recorded for 1988’. Close match.
Breathe – Hands to Heaven – Hang on, supporting Belinda Carlisle? That means I saw this lot live as I went to Bel’s 1988 ‘Heaven on Earth’ tour at the Hammersmith Odeon, but I don’t recall seeing Breathe at all. Great song with a male and female backing duo this time. Incidentally Bel’s excellent first single ‘Mad about you’ is at no67 this week, but couldn’t penetrate the top40 despite an excellent video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmdtJWmR9zQ
Yazz and the Plastic Population – The only way is up – Repeat of the ‘just made it in time’ performance from last week and why not.
Tanita Tikaram – Good Tradition – One of those videos with a backdrop to it. Hadn’t seen this before but it’s quite effective.
…so no showing at all for the Four Tops? Only the chart rundowns…weird given how we’ve had James Brown rammed at us at every opportunity.
I'd also add that it was disappointing that Mory Kante still climbing at no.29 this week, did'nt get anyhting more than a mention on the chart rundown, so not even a Breakers slot or playout slot, despite a great intro and video:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esTxWZEx9XA
Never heard this before...ever! Not as bad as it appears actually, though no idea what they're singing about. The title on the single has 'The Afro Acid Remix' so something to do with the up and coming 'acid house' craze perhaps?
DeleteThe Four Tops record was a horrible remix, I seem to remember, so just as well we never heard it.
DeleteI imagine Quo had played Rockin' All Over the World so many times they could do an exact copy of the original in their sleep.
Reach Out... must be one of the most overplayed records of all time anyway, so I'm glad TOTP skipped it this time around!
DeleteIt was the Chart Show’s end of year chart that had Teardrops at number one. I think they used to base it on weeks in chart, or an amalgam of sales and longevity.
DeleteOut of curiosity, I looked Tanita Tikaram up and apparently a quarter of all Norwegians own one of her albums.
ReplyDeleteBut that film I saw her in was called Erotique (pretentious, moi?), and it was a mucky movie after all! It's an anthology of erotic short instalments directed by women. Says a lot that all I remember about it is Tanita, and she's hardly in it.
But there you have it, she's still going, just not big in the UK.
Norway. Beautiful country, nice people, but lager's ten pounds a pint and the sunlight spread's all over the place during the year - I did a cruise there with the 'old girl' this year and sunset was usually around or even past midnight!
Deleteno one seems to have mentioned as yet that tanita's brother ramon appeared in the cult 90's drama series "this life". sadly for him though, it never acted as a launchpad for international success as it did for his co-stars jack davenport and andrew "walking dead" lincoln
DeleteLot of repeats...
ReplyDeleteBig Country continue the snooze fest from the previous episode...
Then Rush Hour wakes me up. I remember this being a bit bouncier - perhaps it was actually re-recorded for the show as they are all supposed to be...
Then bootleg Bros...
Played quite a bit of Bomb The Bass for a breaker - actually quite catchy.
Big Country - I think you all know my opinion on this lot by now. Somehow this one is even more dirgey than usual.
ReplyDeleteJane Wiedlin - Much better and it still gets the odd play on the radio. Goodness knows why people found Belinda Carlisle sexy when Jane is much cuter.
Status Quo - Presumably this was the last 'run the world' exercise, or perhaps this was just the last tie-in song? I know that Sport Aid basically morphed into today's Sport Relief. As for the song, is it possible to use a recording in its entirety and somehow overdub just one word? This would suggest that the answer is 'yes'.
And..er..that's about it bar the breakers (one fantastic, one abysmal) that we'll see again, and lots of repeat appearances.
Ooh Gary and Cheesy Campbell.
ReplyDeleteBig Country get a full outing for their last big hit. Enjoyed their performances on these reruns and have a new appreciation for them. This isnt their best but still very likable.
Good start to the show.
Here comes one of my summer sounds of 88. A perfect little pop song. She's even got Yazzs cut off jeans. Shame she hasn't got a full band with her as it looks a bit odd with her just on her own with a guitar. Amazed this wasn't a top ten hit. Whatever happened to her...
BOUNCY BROS-A-LIKES BROTHER BEYOND back again. Think this is actually a better performance this time around.
Breakers :
Bomb The Bass. This is a brilliant tune. They really were one of the best dance acts around at the time.
Womack and Womack. Teardrops. OMG I absolutely detested this at the time. Thankfully I have since seen sense and its a great little summer tune.
What is going on. The Quo usually turn up for the opening of an envelope. Where the hell are they..???
Breathe back for more. A well deserved big hit.
Yazz makes it 4 in a row with a repeat from last week and the Tanita Tikaram video plays us out. Some great tunes tonight but felt more like a repeat than a new show
Its a shame with these shortened shows we are missing out on so much further down the charts. Maybe they should have reintroduced the Top Ten video countdown and we could then of had another slot freed up for a new entry rather than having a top ten band back.
I would also relegate the number one to the playout from week 3 onwards and squeeze in some more breakers.